Rich Creamy Semiya Payasam | Spices and Aroma

Ask any Indian about steamy milk pudding? He would spare a bright smile and his mouth will crave for a cup right away.

Semiya payasam (a pudding made with milk and vermicilli) is the most popular dessert prepared in India and no celebration is complete without it. Vermicilli is a famous ingredient used in Indian cooking. Dishes like upma, bagalabath and puddings are made with them.

When there is an Indian festival, get together or birthday/anniversary, I prepare this dessert for my family. Even though we love the French pastries and creamy ice creams, I prefer to cook fresh payasam for Indian festivals.

Sipping a bowl of that authentic dessert makes us feel closer to home. It would take us back to the house packed with family, cousins, relatives where just laughter and happiness lingers around the air.

Rich and creamy in texture, this delightful dessert has tons of ghee roasted cashews and raisins in it. The nuts enhances the taste of the payasam further by creating a little crunch in almost every spoon. A touch of few strands of aromatic Iranian saffron blends beautifully with the simmering hot milk and fills the kitchen air with the smell of earthly ghee and exotic saffron.

Saffron has to be used in small quantities, excess addition can harm your stomach. Restrict your use to minimum amount of it (about 12-15 strands).

My grandmother lives in small village near Panrutti, known as the commercial center of Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu. This place is known for cashews and jackfruit. They export them to various countries like USA, Australia, Singapore. The broken and powdered cashews that are rejected for export are sold at much lower price for the locals.

My grandmother would buy several packets as they are cheap and we use it for dishes which requires the use of cashew paste. She would say “Pretty whole cashews should be used for garnishing while the broken ones for making paste”. During my trip to Indian this year, she gave me two small packets and I have been using them in chicken curry, paneer curry and in desserts too. I am planning to make kaju katli someday.

Some serve this delicious payasams hot like soups and some prefer it cold like smoothies. I would like to have mine warm. Serve it in pre-warmed ramekin and they taste even better the next day. Hope you will like as much as we do.

1. Heat 1 tablespoon ghee /clarified butter in a small cooking pan. Once they get heated up, roast the cashews and raisins till they brown lightly. Remove and let it cool. Soak broken cashews in warm milk for 10 minutes and make a smooth paste out of it.

2. Heat a large cooking pan and add the remaining ghee. Fry the vermicilli till they roast and crisp up, about 5 minutes. Pour the milk along with the crushed cardamons and bring it to a boil.

3. Simmer the flame and cook for 20-30 minutes. Don’t cover it, if you cover them up milk will boil and spill over. Mix in the cashew paste and stir to combine.

4. Throw in the fried cashews and raisins and cook for further 3-4 minutes. Turn off the flame and add the saffrons. Cover and let them rest for 15 minutes. Serve hot. You can store them in the fridge for couple of days but re-heat before you serve.

This post was originally submitted to BeBetsy from Vijitha of Spices and Aroma who was previously a contributing writer.